Can we privatize the Post Office?

Posted by $ blarman 8 years, 10 months ago to Government
57 comments | Share | Flag

I know it is an enumerated duty of the Federal Government according to the Constitution, but seriously...

All Comments

  • Posted by $ jlc 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    No, not really: Anytime at work when we want an important document to get somewhere on time, we ship it FedEx. Virtually all of my bills are now on autopay - I do not get bills in the mail any more.

    Were the Post Office to close, the only things that would need to be sent to me in the mail would be things like my med tech license (annual), drivers license (every half dozen years), new credit cards (which could be FedExed as they are private parties), car registration stickers (just got some).

    What I get in the mail is "ads". I walk directly from the mailbox to the recycle bin.

    Jan
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ blarman 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I would propose that ALL government entities be instituted with sunset clauses that must then be individually re-authorized by Congress. And by individually I mean that a separate bill for each entity to be re-authorized must be introduced and passed by the Legislature and signed by the President. If nothing else it would really make it so that each entity would have to have a sponsor and broad support for its continuation. It would also guarantee that the sheer weight of re-authorization would slow down what government could do once it reached critical mass.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ blarman 8 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    While you present a realistic stance, the bigger problem is that all non-parcel mail must be sent through the Post Office, and Congress mandates that copies of many bills be sent through the mail to consumers' homes.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by JoleneMartens1982 8 years, 9 months ago
    How much money would we save if junk mail was not delivered??? Hello if we are interested we will call you, don't call us! Junk mail is such a waste of resources and usually a scam to boot.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Owlsrayne 8 years, 10 months ago
    In rural Arizona UPS is handing off small packages to USPS for delivery. The idea I have is since this is this let the major carriers UPS, FedEX, DHL buy out the USPS. Each having shares in it so not only the USPS will be a separte entity. But could be run more efficiently while deliverying the mail and small parcels in rural area's of the USA.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ jlc 8 years, 10 months ago
    Is this even moot? Email has increasingly taken over the function of communication. Packages can be sent any-which-way.

    What is left that needs to go through the mail?

    Jan
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Esceptico 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I do not see that as an important problem. To me, the problem is making delivering mail a criminal activity. As mail decreases from the government "company" in favor of the private operators, it can exist only in name, but it will shrink and become, eventually, if not the dead hemorrhoid, then a smaller one. Either way, we consumers will have a choice we do not have now and UPS or FedEx will not be paying millions in "fines" each year, thus lowering our costs.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Or they could just put it up for bid. Doesn't say it has to be a government agency or that it has to be just that they have the power to do that. That's how freeway system came to be. Or as it was called when Congress deemed it for the establishment of post roads The National Defense Highway System.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Is it true and I ask this as a side question that the Teamsters Contract with UPS or others has salaries set as a percentage of minimum wage?
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    There are many forms of employees groups or unions. The current version no longer serve the workers but serve the party . Time to change. Starting with the means of production is not machines but are people from the CEO to the front gate guard and membership is not exclusive to any one business or corporation should that form be chosen.

    The larger and middle size business maybe the nexus but the lady down the street at the coffee wagon is still an integral part of the business of selling my labor to an employer.

    If corporations can be considered as 'a person' which is the case and merit certain privileges why does the reverse not apply to each worker who is in business for him or her self?

    That argument is being used right now to allow among other things the currently forbidden unlimited by ability or geographic location direct donation of funds, equipment or labor to candidates even when no connection exists.

    That is the other side of what I stated to begin with.

    Yes selling my skills as a business deserves the same privileges as a corporation who gets my privileges - except for voting and contributing out of their area of interest.

    Thus the playing field is leveled automatically,
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by pureabsolute 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Implied in your statement: killing unions means killing industry; people in industry would rather die than hire a non-union worker; and that people are worth more than the wage they can get despite all of the unemployed people that want that job.

    In my humble opinion, you are wrong.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by pureabsolute 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Unfortunately, you just posted within the same post the reason it won't work. The post office is not a private entity that will do the right thing and die. It is a public lich, and will ask for more and more of the budget the less it is able to make ends meet with 'customer' fees.

    Not saying having a private full service 'answer' won't help -- more that the elimination of the post office by statute or constitutional change, should be the actual goal.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I vote for Chelsea, the Clinton's still owe for the short fall on the balanced budget with a surplus.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Not unless they violate international boundaries. My Momma didn't raise no fool. i'm grandstanding this one.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 8 years, 10 months ago
    I'm in favor of that without unions of course but let me play devils advocate here...Who's 'Crony' would get the job?

    In a 'Profoundly Honest' world that would have been no problem. Understand that it would best to operate as a monopoly and profit would be in play here; not that profit would be a problem. I question if it would work in the free market...there would have to be a code of conduct and an excepted standard mode of operation. An you know who would write those regulations. Is it possible UPS, Fedx, etc could cooperate and not snoop into our private affairs, finances and associations?
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by DeanStriker 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yes indeed, I hear that, and I feel the same.

    Another nuisance are those who email a link to a webpage with an almost endless and uncontrollable video which tells us blah blah blah for a half-hour or more before finally getting around to telling you their price for ?what! Then even when I X the tab it returns with a text version. No more of those!
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ Radio_Randy 8 years, 10 months ago
    The Post Office was a good idea...originally.
    Unions were a "good" idea...originally (okay, maybe not).
    Even the Dept. of Education was a "good" idea...originally.

    In each case, these groups/agencies did their job, but refused to leave when they were no longer necessary or cost effective, as they had simply grown "too big to fail".

    Maybe, what we need, is a "Sunset" clause for things like this...much like term limits. At least, then, there would be some possibility of ending undesirable programs (like the Clinton Gun Ban).

    Okay, unions were a bad example as they really aren't government programs (or, maybe they are...).
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Kittyhawk 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm on board with your plan! Privatizing everything will bring accountability, efficiency, and lower costs.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 10 months ago
    The Postal System can and should be privatized. I'd be willing to bet, that if it did happen, The deliveries would be on time, the lines at the offices would diminish and in less than three years it would show a substantial profit. I'd make George Romney the CEO and let him do what he's done so successfully with other companies.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    True. Now we are getting junk mail creeping into the cell radio phone market and it's all over the internet if you don't get anti-span and popups. Then there are the latest programs that read your private mail and advertise according to the contents,. I make a point of not buying from any one who advertises that way.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Temlakos 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    That's why I suggested the Army and Fleet should run their respective branches of the Post Office as separate entities and deal directly with the public or with private mail acceptors. "Can" is a matter of setting something up. What we're really discussing is not "can" but "should."
    Reply | Permalink  

  • Comment hidden. Undo